If you’re a recent Turnpike Troubadours convert and never got a chance to own their very first debut album Bossier City, you better jump on the opportunity now because for a limited time they’re making it available to the public once again, with some of the proceeds going to a good cause.

Announced on Thursday (9-1), Bossier City will be available in hard copy form on the band’s website, with part of the proceeds going to victims of the recent Louisiana floods. Released December 11th, 2007 on their own Bossier City label, it finds the band in their nascent form before they really hit it big time in the Texas/Red Dirt scene with their 2010 record Diamonds & Gasoline.

No good public explanation has ever been given of why Bossier City disappeared from major retailers and the merch table a while back, but it may have to do with the fact that their most recent, self-titled album included two songs from Bossier City: the title track, and “Easton & Main.” Perhaps they plan to re-record other selections from the album in the future.

Either way, for those bellyaching that they can never get it, now is your opportunity. And I wouldn’t snooze on it because it won’t be around for long.

57 Comments

Biscuit
September 1, 2016 @
6:37 pm

Thanks Trigger I grabbed one!
Led me to wonder: what other country CDs or LPs have gone out of print or mysteriously disappeared that fans would like to see re-released in a limited edition run similar to Bossier City? For me, it would be Sunday Valley’s lone cd, Cody Jinks’ first two CDs, and Buffalo Clover’s releases.

I haven’t been able to find Drew Kennedy’s “Dollar Movie Theater” for a long time now. I know it’s not on any streaming services and I haven’t seen it for sale on Amazon either. That was the album that made me really stand up and take notice of what a great songwriter Kennedy is.

Yeah, your right, good catch. I was thinking of Wade Bowen and West 84 Self Titled, West 84. I don’t see it under his discography but Amazon has some copies going for $73-100. Man, there is hardly any info about that album anywhere. I kick myself for not getting it but I have all the songs, just no hard copy.

If you’re talking about “To Wind and On To Heaven”, someone uploaded the entire album on youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80apyat2zg) If you talking about their self titled album/EP, good luck. A redditor was kind enough to post it on a file sharing site, but I’m not sure if they still have it up.

Note: I’m not trying to advocate piracy, just posting what I found during my quest of trying to find those albums.
Trigger: If my post does seem like it’s advocating piracy, please delete it.

Trig, do you know the reasoning behind out of print albums? I get that there may be label disputes and ownership issues, but you would think with the technology we have, we would at least have access to these albums in MP3 format if no legal issues exist. Is this based off the artist, label or both? I would assume the artist would want all of their music available for purchase. Or is it all about money?

In the case of “Bossier City,” I don’t think there’s any legalities swirling around it because it was self-released. Sometimes when you have an older artist like David Allan Coe for example who had tons of albums out of print for a long time (they were recently reissued), it’s because either the label or the artist’s estate is just not putting the effort out to make sure they’re out there. Especially with specialty labels like Bear Family, there’s really no reason a title should go out of print accidentally.

I think there’s a few reasons artists can choose to purposely pull a title from the market. In the case of “Bossier City,” who knows, but I think they may feel like they can represent these songs better now, and would rather put them on new albums, especially with Evan Felker’s slower writing process. That’s a total assumption though. With Sturgill Simpson and his Sunday Valley stuff, I think he didn’t like it or what it represented, and so he decided to hide it from the world. I also expect at some point that stuff will see the light of day again, but only when he feels like it doesn’t tarnish what he’s doing now. But again, this is just an assumption. I don’t think there is any blanket answer, and goes by a case by case scenario. Sometimes it’s a small label folds, and the master ownership is in dispute.

Gotcha, I figured it was a pretty open ended question but thought I’d ask. Thanks for the reply.

As a music fan, I like to hear the originals or first takes even if they aren’t as good as the second or final recording. Like others have posted, Bossier City may not be TT best album but it defiantly set the ground work to where they are now. I personally think its a great album but my point is, I like listening to albums like this to appreciate what they are doing now, even if their sound has changed completely. And usually the first albums or early recordings that go out of print are the ones that are stripped down, low production and just have this coolness factor about them. You can’t duplicate that, it just happens.

I remember reading or seeing an interview with Felker where he stated Bossier City was not even mastered and was recorded in the back of some guy’s house. He said they made it quickly just to have something to sell at their shows. It was also mentioned that him & RC are the only current members of the band on that record.

All of Rusty Wier’s catalog. Truly one of the great underappreciated musicians. I have a few CDs I’ve managed to come across, as well as some of the original lps, but I don’t see where any CDs or digital albums can be purchased.

Great album. I’m not sure why it was taken off shelves, but I’m not sure if it’s due to their latest album. I got my copy by pre-ordering their latest release. The package had a t-shirt, Bossier City, and the new album.
If you don’t have this, grab it! It’s a great way to listen to how much they have grown, yet keep their same vibe.

I was super excited when I first saw this article because I’ve always heard of this out of print Turnpike Troubadours album, but I already have it. I don’t know where I got it. Big Z eluded to the fact it was on Amazon at some point. Maybe I got it there.

Great cause and if it was available on Vinyl I’d pony up, but I have no need for a CD that’s sole purpose would be a coaster on my night stand.

Going to buy to support the cause but not offering digital shows just how strange the LP business has become. Honestly I don’t think we have a CD player in the house or in any vehicle. Guess I’ll use my sons XBOX to listen.

I’ve had this CD since I discovered them 5 years ago and I’m almost positive Evan sings lead on all the songs. John was in the band at the time, but I think his contributions were background vocals, songwriting, and instrumentals.

I only have the mp3 version, from Amazon , so no liner notes available to me, but the song “Austin to Ashes” definitely is not sung by Evan Felker. I really like this album and I at first felt the remakes on the 2015 album were sacrilege, but I’ve grown to appreciate them too.

That could be…I have the album at home, but I’m out of town for the weekend. I’ll take a look at the liner notes when I get back.

Also re: this album…at one of their shows several years ago, someone yelled out a request for “The Shape.” Evan stopped, looked at them and said, aghast, “oh no! That’s a terrible song. I hate that song. I’m never playing it again.” So there’s that.

Not quite as good. Think Felker said something about Bossier City not even having fiddle originally when asked about redoing it on latest album.

That being said, I fucking love it! And there’re plenty of others that’re badass songs-personally love the shit out of come November and solid ground. “Not quite as good” isn’t a bad thing in this case given that their other albums are just so fucking great. The comparison is all that makes it less, but as a standalone album it’s awesome

As some others have said, it might be the weakest of their albums, and now since some of the songs have been re-recorded, some of the best tracks you’ve already heard. The recording isn’t bad, but it’s not excellent. But if you really like the Turnpike Troubadours, I think I would probably recommend picking it up anyway. It’s a part of their history with some good songs. But I guess it just depends on your level of caring about such things. Perhaps I’ll do a vintage album review for it at some point and solidify my thoughts behind it.